With all the scary news floating around about Bisphenol-A[2], a dangerous chemical that’s been linked to everything from low sperm counts to early puberty to DNA damage, it’s easy to see why smart sport bottle makers choose to stick to strictly BPA-free materials. But just because there are a crop of BPA-free reusable bottles now available, that doesn’t mean you should just buy the first one you see. All of your stipulations for good, ergonomic, easy to use, sustainable design should still apply in your search for the perfect water bottle. thinksport[3] recently sent us their rather elegant-looking 750ml insulated bottle[4] to put to the test – read on to check out what we loved and what we thought could be improved and see if this is the water bottle you’ve been searching for!

Right off the bat, the most obvious benefit of thinksport bottles is that they’re free of BPA[5] – but they’re also free of phthalates, cadmium, lead and PVC. So if you’re worried about dangerous hormone disrupting chemicals leeching out of your water bottle and into your system, you’re not going to have that issue with a thinksport. And we probably don’t have to mention this to you if you’re already on the hunt for a reusable bottle[6], but drinking water out of one of these puppies instead of buying bottled water will drastically cut down on the tons of plastic waste that goes into our rivers, streams and dumps every year.

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But let’s get down to business. What made the thinksport bottle[3] stand out to us? Well, first off, it’s beautifully designed, easy to hold and feels like a quality product that will stand the test of time. After all, what’s the use of dishing out 16 bucks to buy something that’s going to break after a year?

Another awesome feature of the thinksport is that it’s double-walled – meaning that it won’t “sweat” and drip all over your bag if you put cold water inside. It’s also vacuum-sealed and can keep your iced tea nice and cool the same way that it can keep your coffee hot. Now, a lot of other sports bottles[8] have this feature but they forget one important thing – what’s the point of being able to maintain the temperature of your drink if you can’t get it hot or cold enough in the first place? The thinksport doesn’t have this issue, since it has a nice wide mouth big enough to drop ice cubes right into and even comes with a mesh strainer that drops right into the lip of the bottle to strain tea leaves so you can pour your hot water right into your bottle. But we all know how annoying it can be to drink out of a wide mouthed bottle – so thinksport thought of that too! The secondary spout top gives you the option to sip out of a smaller opening (which also makes it safer to drink from if you’re driving or on the go).

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The other feature that really sold us on the thinksport bottle? It’s light. We’re not talking feather-light – this is after all, a metal bottle. But it’s definitely surprisingly light when you pick it up and easy enough to carry with you in your bag.

Now, we know it’s not easy to make a product that is high quality, beautiful, easy to use and sustainable but we do have to point out a few things that we are hoping thinksport incorporates into their design process. First off, in terms of packaging[10], we noticed that the bottle itself comes in a plastic bag within a cardboard box. It’s very probably that the outer box is to protect the bottle – since it is very glossy and it would be a shame to mar – but in the future, if there was a way to sell the bottle without the excess packaging, that would elevate its green factor even more.

The other thing to note is that thinksport bottles do not appear to be made from recycled[11] metal (we are following up to find out). It’s important to point out that materials aren’t everything – the mere fact that this is a reusable bottle makes it eco-friendly in its own right – but if future iterations of thinksport bottles could be made of partially reclaimed metal or even if they had a “send it back for recycling” program, that would also make them all the more appealing to the savvy green consumer.